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The human auricle has attracted the attention of forensic scientists since a long for its unique morphological characteristics. In modern times, these unique features can be captured by CCTV cameras, which may be extremely useful during the identification process in a criminal investigation. Unique morphological characteristics such as Darwin's tubercle, shape, and size of the ear, different morphological features of the helix, tragus, lobule, etc. are frequently used in the identification and individualization process. The human ear was not only accessi-ble for its morphological and morphometric variations, but also its existing bilateral, sex, and population differences. The present study was conducted on 140 individuals (71 males and 69 females) aged between 18 and 30 years. The data were collected from the colleges of Nahan city of Sirmaur district in Himachal Pradesh state of North India. Various anthropometric measurements were taken independently on the left and right ear of each individual with the help of a pair of sliding calipers using a standard method. These linear measurements were physiognomic ear length, physiognomic ear breadth, ear length above tragus, distance from tragus to antihelix, distance from tragus to the helix, lobule height, and lobule width. Auricular index, lobular index, and lobular ear index were calculated from the aforementioned measurements. Further, an independent t-test/ Mann Witney U test and paired sample t-test/ Wilcoxon Signed Rank test were applied for the evaluation of sex differences and bilateral differences in the human ear, respectively. For the prediction of sexual dimorphism, discriminant function analysis was applied. Physiognomic ear length, physiognomic ear breadth, ear length above tragus, distances from tragus to antihelix (left ear only), and tragus to helix exhibited significant sex differences on both sides (p0.05). Significant bilateral differences (p0.05) were reported for all the measurements of the ear in males except for lobule height, whereas, significant side differences (p0.05) were shown for ear length above tragus, distance from tragus to helix, and lobule width among females. The discriminant function model showed 82.10% accuracy for determining sexual dimorphism. The study highlighted sexual dimorphism and bilateral differences in ear morphometry in a north Indian population and provided a database of anthropometric variables in the human ear for forensic and anthropological uses.

An improved trapezoidal pile gate bulk FinFET device is implemented with an extension in the gate for enhancing the performance. The novelty in the design is trapezoidal cross-section FinFET with stacked metal gate along with extension on both sides. Such improved device structure with additional process cost exhibits significant enhancement in the performance metrics specially in terms of leakage current behavior. The simulation study proves the suitability of the device for low power applications with improved on/off current ratio, subthreshold swing (SS), drain induced barrier lowering (DIBL), Gate Induced Drain Leakage (GIDL) uniform distribution of electron charge density along the channel and effects of Augur recombination within the channel.

This communication is regarding the necessity to address the HIV-related needs of LGBTQIA+ community (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender/transsexual, Queer/Questioning, Intersex, Asexuality, and others) for attaining the 'GETTING TO ZERO' theme for zero new HIV infections, zero AIDS-related deaths and zero discrimination. Most of the times, prevention of HIV/AIDS is talked about in terms of faithfulness to one's partner, use of protective devices such as condoms, pre and post exposure prophylaxis, using anti-retroviral therapies and use of microbicides, behavior change etc. HIV-related issues are however, one of the pertinent issues that needs to be effectively addressed in the LGBTQIA+ community.

era of grid computing, resource allocation plays a vital role for assigning the available resources. This paper describes how to reduce the search time for the best available resources and assure instant provisioning of the lately added resources to the grid thereby using clustering and artificial neural networks. The efficacy is achieved through K-Means clustering algorithm which is used to cluster the similar type of resources on the basis of their configuration as high, medium or low thereby decreasing the search time by searching only into the cluster of high availability instead of searching for the best from all of the available resources. Thereafter artificial neural network trained with feed forward propagation is deployed to automatically assign the newly added resources to appropriate cluster. This approach significantly reduces the computational time of resource allocation.

The inclusive energy spectra of light charged particles, such as, α, p, d and t, evaporated from the hot 31P nucleus at an excitation energy E*∼ 60 MeV, have been measured at various angles. The compound nucleus 31P has been populated using two different entrance channel configurations; i.e., 7Li (47 MeV) + 24Mg and 19F (96 MeV) + 12C reactions, leading to the same excitation energy of the compound system. It has been observed that the spectra obtained in the 7Li (47 MeV) + 24Mg reaction follow the standard statistical-model prediction with a spherical configuration of the compound nucleus. But, the spectra obtained in the 19F (96 MeV) + 12C reaction deviate from similar predictions of the statistical model both on higher- as well as on lower-energy sides. Considerable deformation was required to be incorporated in the calculation in order to reproduce the measured-energy spectra in this case. Dynamical trajectory model calculations were not found to play any significant role in explaining the differences in behaviour between the two cases under study. The observed discrepancy has been attributed to the difference in the angular-momentum distributions of the compound nuclei formed in the two reactions.

The dynamics of fission has been formulated by generalising the asymptotic expansion of the Fokker-Planck equation in terms of the strength of the fluctuations where the diffusion coefficients depend on the stochastic variables explicitly. The prescission neutron multiplicities and the mean kinetic energies of the evaporated neutrons have been calculated and compared with the respective experimental data over a wide range of excitation energy and compound nuclear mass. The mean and variance of the total kinetic energies of the fission fragments have been calculated and compared with the experimental values., Comment: 13 pages, 6 figures, accepted for publication in European Physical Journal A

Grazing incidence X-ray diffraction, performed on a 70 keV nitrogen implanted Ti-6Al-4V system, reveals phase instabilities, during the course of nitride formation. With the build up of unbound N atom concentration, for a dose of 1×1016 ions/cm2, the surface region becomesα-rich, whereas, on precipitation of Ti-nitrides at a high dose of 1×1017 ions/cm2, theβ-Ti phase reappears, at the surface and beyond the implanted zone. The low concentration of V and the strain in the nitrided zone, have led to radiation induced martensitic transformation of theβ-Ti phase.

The low-lying excitation spectra of ${}^{11}$Be and ${}^{19}$O have been calculated on the basis of particle-vibration coupling model. Experimentally observed parity inversion of the ground state and first excited state of ${}^{11}$Be has been reproduced. A fairly good agreement with experiment is obtained regarding excitation energies and spectroscopic factors for both nuclei. Calculated neutron rms radii confirm the observed neutron halo for these nuclei.

Amorphization is often observed during irradiation of intermetallic compounds with energetic charged particles or neutrons. This paper discusses various mechanisms of radiation induced amorphization and also presents the results of amorphization in Al-Mn alloys.

A facility based on real time multiple ion detection trend analysis mass spectrometry has been set up in our laboratory for studying thermal decomposition behaviour of inorganic solids. The system has been used for studying decomposition of CuSO4· 5H2O. Non-isothermal kinetic rate expressions based on random nucleation and 3-d phase boundary migration (for dehydration stage), 3-d diffusion and 3-d phase boundary migration (for decomposition stage) were found to have significant correlations with Evolved Gas Analysis (EGA) data. Brief description of the experimental facility along with physical explanations behind compliance of EGA data to above models are discussed.

The present paper discusses structural transformation of CdS thin films during annealing and the consequent changes in their optical properties. CdS thin films are grown by the chemical bath deposition technique. The optical band gap is found to reduce on annealing and the change is attributed to the structural transformation of CdS from cubic to hexagonal phase.

The tumour suppressor p53 is a crucial regulator of cell cycle arrest and apoptosis by acting as a transcription factor to regulate a variety of genes. At least in part, this control is exerted by p53 via regulating expression of numerous microRNAs. We identified two abundantly expressed microRNAs, miR-16 and miR-26a, whose expression is regulated by p53 during the checkpoint arrest induced by the genotoxic drug, doxorubicin. Importantly, among the targets of these miRs are two critical checkpoint kinases, Chk1 and Wee1. The p53-dependent augmentation of miR-16 and miR-26a expression levels led to the cell cycle arrest of tumour cells in G1/S and increased apoptosis. Strikingly, the bioinformatics analysis of survival times for patients with breast and prostate cancers has revealed that co-expression of mir-16 and miR-26a correlated with a better survival outcome. Collectively, our data provide a novel mechanism whereby p53 represses Chk1 and Wee1 expression, at least partially, via upregulation of miR-16 and miR-26a and thus sensitizes tumour cells to genotoxic therapies.

Real-time multiple-ion detection trend analysis mass spectrometry has been employed to study the temperature-programmed decomposition of AlNH 4 (SO 4 ) 2 · 12H 2 O in the temperature range 300–1200 K. Significant correlations are established with certain non-isothermal solid state kinetic rate expressions through the use of fraction release plots obtained from Evolved Gas Analysis Mass Spectra (EGA-MS). The EGA mass spectra clearly resolve the dehydration stage and various other stages associated with the thermal decomposition. The dehydration step is concomitant with stage I of a three-stage ammonia release followed by the final decomposition of Al 2 (SO 4 ) 3 . These stages are found to comply with models based on random nucleation and diffusion approaches. A change in rate-governing mechanism was noticed with increase in the heating rate for the dehydration step. Relevant Arrhenius parameters such as the activation energy and pre-exponential factor were determined for all the decomposition stages. The ultimate product resulting from the decomposition was confirmed as γ-alumina by X-ray diffraction studies.

Dynamic and non-equilibrium effects involving interaction between deuterium and radiation produced defects were studied during deuterium implantation of Cu and Ti. The technique of neutron yield measurement during deuterium implantation was employed and theoretical analysis was made to study the dynamics. SIMS, GIXRD and SEM studies on deuterium implanted samples were employed to study the evolution of implanted deuterium profiles, structure of deuterides and surface topography respectively.

Prescission neutron multiplicities have been calculated in the framework of a simple, dynamical model of fission. The fission trajectories have been calculated by solving Euler-Lagrange equations with dissipation generated through two-body nuclear viscosity. Systematic study of the relationship between the prescission neutron multiplicities and nuclear viscosity has been made in the range of mass 150{endash}200 and incident energy 4{endash}13 MeV/nucleon. The values of the viscosity coefficients which are used to predict the observed prescission neutron multiplicities follow a global relation in the region of mass and energy studied.

The domain of dynamic recrystallization (DRX) in as-cast 304 stainless steel material occurs at higher temperatures (1250 degrees C) and lower strain rates (0.001 s(-1)) than in wrought 304 stainless steel (1100 degrees C and 0.01 s(-1)). The above result has been explained earlier on the basis of a simple theoretical DRX model involving the rate of nucleation versus rate of grain boundary migration. The present investigation is aimed at examining experimentally the influence of carbide particles on the DRX of ascast 304 using secondary ion mass spectrometric (SIMS) analysis. Isothermal compression tests at a constant true strain rate have been performed on wrought 304 and as-cast 304 materials in the temperature and strain rate ranges of 1000 to 1250 degrees C and 0.001 to 1 s(-1) respectively. The SIMS analysis carried out on the deformed samples revealed that the large carbides present in the as-cast 304 material strongly influence the DRX process. In as-cast 304 material, the presence of large carbide particles in the microstructure shifts the DRX domain to higher temperature and lower strain rate in comparison with wrought 304 material.

Undoped semi-insulating (SI) gallium arsenide (GaAs) single crystals were grown in the 〈100〉 direction by the liquid encapsulated Czochralski (LEC) technique. The grown crystals were cut and characterised by Hall effect measurement in the Van der Pauw configuration. Ion implantation has profound effects upon the elastic, mechanical, optical and structural properties of semi-conducting materials. The present study deals with the effect of ion implantation on microhardness of GaAs. Hydrogen ion implantation was carried out at room temperature on GaAs samples at 100 keV energy. Microhardness measurements were carried out after implantation and the change in the microhardness as a function of ion dose was evaluated. The irradiated samples were also characterised by using X-Ray diffraction (XRD) techniques.

In intermediate energy heavy ion collision prompt particles emitted in the early stages of the reaction affect the properties of the incompletely fused composite. We have studied the entrance channel effects on preequilibrium proton emission and various observables, like temperature, residual velocity, and linear momentum transfer of the incompletely fused residue, in the framework of Promptly Emitted Particle (PEP) model. The calculated preequilibrium proton energy spectra for Oxygen and Sulphur induced reactions on various targets have been confronted with the respective experimental data and the agreement between the two has been found to be quite satisfactory. Proton multiplicity has been found to decrease/increase with the increase in target/projectile mass. Residual velocity and linear momentum transfer have been found to have weak dependance on target mass. With the increase in incident energy, the calculation predicts a tendency towards limiting the temperature of the residue for all the target masses. The limiting temperature has been found to decrease with increase in the mass of the residue which is in accordance with the experimental observations.

A quadrupole mass spectrometer based evolved gas analyser has been built in our laboratory with necessary UHV hardware, computer interface and software for conducting real-time multiple ion detection mass spectrometry over a wide dynamic pressure regime. Thermal decomposition behaviour of model salts CaCO3, CuSO4.5H2O, Pb(NO3)2 and AlNH4(SO4)2.12H2O has been studied to standardise this system. Reaction parameters for the dehydration and decomposition of CuSO4 5H2O are computed and found to be in agreement with the reported literature values.

Two 9Cr–1Mo steels containing 0·26 and 0·75 wt-%Si were subjected to different annealing treatments to vary the prior austenite grain size. When oxidised in air at 973 K, the grain boundaries oxidise at higher rates than the areas within the grains, and thus develop oxide ridges. In addition to this morphological difference these grain boundary ridges also show compositional dissimilarities from the oxides formed within the grains, as suggested by the results from analyses using scanning electron microscopy and secondary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS) at these locations. Both energy dispersive X-ray analysis and secondary ion imaging confirm the high Si content of the oxides in the ridges. Oxide ridges and the scales within the grains of the oxidised alloys having different grain sizes and Si contents have been extensively characterised by obtaining depth profiles for different elements using SIMS. An important observation is that there is a synergistic influence of the grain size and the Si content...

Wireless medium being error prone, the task of handling retransmissions is very important and it is assigned to the MAC subtype of IEEE 802.11. In this paper, we study the effect of changing the retransmission mechanism on QoS parameters and propose a mechanism which would dynamically adjust the retry limits (which controls the retransmission policy) based upon network state (feedback force effect) and applications (driving force effect). We start by explaining the brief theory behind retransmission mechanism followed by some basic analysis which provides the motivation for the need to dynamically control the retransmission mechanism.

Network address translation model (NAT) has been viewed as clear transgression of end-to-end connectivity principle of internet. Since local area network (LAN) based internal addresses are all disguised behind one publicly accessible NATenabled router, it is virtually impossible for public hosts to initiate a connection to a specific private host. This in turn adversely affects the NAT enabled network’s ability to support VOIP, Video conferencing and other peer-to-peer applications. The situation is acutely compounded when we have multiple levels and nesting of Static and Dynamic NATs. The situation is tempting when we hope to retain the benefits of NAT but may still aspire to achieve the principle of end-to-end connectivity. This manuscript tends to realize the above situation by proposing a three dimensional network address translation scheme with a tentative capability to support end-to-end connectivity based applications and at the same time retaining the benefits of conventional NAT model.

Intermediate mass fragment emission in α induced reactions on Al and Ti at 60 and 104 MeV, respectively has been analysed using phenomenological moving source model. Fragment emission at backward angles is found to be well explained by a single fusion-like source, whereas for forward angles an additional intermediate velocity source is required to explain the data. The relative contribution of the intermediate velocity source decreases sharply with angle for lower energies and it extends significantly to larger angles in the higher energy reaction. The fractional momentum transfer for the fusion-like source is in agreement with the corresponding Viola systematics value in the case of α+Al reaction, whereas for α+Ti reaction, it is larger than that obtained from the Viola systematics. The degree of incompleteness (in momentum transfer) is found to be fragment dependent; incompleteness being more for lighter fragments and vice-versa.

Amorphization of ordered intermetallic compounds has been observed during ion, electron and neutron irradiations. Investigations have been carried out in a number of systems. It has been generally observed that intermetallic compounds with a narrow range of homogeneity (line compounds) amorphize on irradiation. The present paper reports the observation of irradiation-induced amorphization in the Al[sub 6]Mn phase in an Al-14 a/o Mn alloy. The dose and energy dependence of the amorphization process are discussed. The present studies suggest that the defects produced during irradiation rather than the implanted atoms (helium) play a major role in the crystalline to amorphous transition.

The use of Cs+ primary ions in conjunction with the detection of CsHe+ molecular ions is proposed for the analysis of helium in metals by secondary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS). Concentration depth profiles of helium implanted at 100keV in Al60Mn40 alloy have been measured. Helium concentrations down to about 100 ppm were measured at moderately low sputtering rate of 0·5nm/sec. The experimentally determined implantation profile of helium is compared with the theoretical profile obtained using the Monte Carlo Code TRIM.

Results of neutron counting experiments during deuterium implantation into titanium and copper are reported. Models for neutron yield have been developed by taking into account different solid state effects like energy degradation of incident ions, energy dependent d-d fusion cross section and diffusion of implanted deuterium possibly influenced by surface desorption and formation of metal deuterides. The asymptotic time dependence of the neutron yield during implantation has been compared with the experimental results. Using these results, solid state processes that might occur during deuterium implantation into these metals are inferred.

Angular momentum distribution and its alignment for the incompletely fused system formed in nucleus-nucleus collisions in the Fermi energy domain due to emission of pre-equilibrium nucleons have been studied in the framework of dynamical trajectory model with dissipation due to particle exchange. The distributions of mass and excitation energy in the incompletely fused composite have also been calculated. The calculation has been performed on an event by event basis using Monte Carlo simulation technique. The distribution of angular momentum looks almost like a gaussian as opposed to the triangular distribution in the sharp cut-off approximation for complete fusion. It is found that the almost aligned angular momentum for relatively noncentral collisions becomes sharply nonaligned as the collisions become more central.

There have been interesting observations about ordering of microstructures during irradiation. The formation of void lattices is amongst the better known examples. Ordering has also been observed in small gas filled bubbles formed during low energy light ion implantation in the energy range 30–100 keV. The basic underlying mechanism for ordering of gas bubbles has not been clearly understood so far. We identify in this paper a basic instability in the growth kinetics of such bubbles which can develop during irradiation. This instability is shown to be associated with the interstitial production due to the high pressure inside these bubbles and their differential bias due to the strain field interactions with vacancies and interstitials. It is shown that such an instability leads to a selection of a wavelength scale which agrees with the observed lattice parameter.

The production of intermediate-mass fragments ranging from Z=3 to 8 emitted in the reaction of 60 MeV alpha on an aluminum target has been experimentally studied. The energy spectra of the emitted fragments in the angular range of 20\ifmmode^\circ\else\textdegree\fi{}\char21{}130\ifmmode^\circ\else\textdegree\fi{} have been measured and the total production cross sections of each fragment have been estimated from the data. The double-differential cross-section data have been compared with the predictions made using (a) a phenomenological moving source model and (b) a binary fragmentation model. The absolute total emission cross sections for various fragments have been calculated assuming the statistical decay of a fully equilibrated compound nucleus and have been compared with the corresponding experimental estimates. It is found that the exit-channel deformation plays a significant role in the estimation of the Coulomb barrier of the separating nuclei. A theoretical procedure for the estimation of the exit-channel Coulomb barrier for the deformed system has been incorporated in the present calculation.

Composition fluctuations arising from thermal effects are known to influence the spinodal decomposition in concentrated alloys. However, at very low temperatures these effects slow down because of the very small diffusionrates. This paper examines the possibility of having such fluctuations induced by radiation via the fluctuations in the supersaturated defect concentration. Various mechanisms are discussed. In particular, it is shown that the interstitial exchange with lattice atoms combined with diffusion leads to fluctuations that grow linearly with time. An estimate of this effect indicates that it has a significant contribution to the decomposition of an alloy. A detailed mathematical analysis of the phenomena is presented and application to some alloys that show spinodal like decomposition during irradiation is discussed.

The energy spectra of $\ensuremath{\alpha}$ particles have been measured in coincidence with the evaporation residues for the decay of the compound nucleus ${}^{31}\mathrm{P},$ produced in the reaction ${}^{19}\mathrm{F}(96 \mathrm{MeV}{)+}^{12}\mathrm{C}.$ The data have been compared with the predictions of the statistical model code CASCADE. It has been observed that significant deformation effects in the compound nucleus need to be considered in order to explain the shape of the evaporated $\ensuremath{\alpha}$-particle energy spectra.